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When the Depression started, the Tabernacle mobilized to provide food and clothing for tens of thousands of Chicago families.

At the very beginning of the Great Depression in 1929, the Tabernacle ministries were not effected too greatly, but the people attending certainly were. As more and more people lost their jobs, the Tabernacle stepped up its food distribution program and started a rescue mission for street people. In 1932, Rader went further. All around Chicago there were farms that had a food surplus. He began a campaign asking that this food be donated to the Tabernacle, where it would be canned and given to the needy. The response was overwhelming. Well over 36,400 families were fed regularly while the Pantry lasted. And hundreds of volunteers picked fruit, sorted clothes, canned food, or distributed the materials. However, the program was controversial. The smell of produce, especially cabbage, filled the Tabernacle (for a while, Rader was known as the Sauerkraut King of Chicago), and this offended some. Others felt that distributing food on such a large scale was outside the Tabernacle ministry and would distract it from direct evangelism. And the Pantry did strain the Tabernacle's resources just as it was facing its most severe challenge.

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